At present, there are many homes with pets, for example, dogs. Having pets includes responsibilities such as maintenance of hygienic conditions for both the pet owners' wellbeing and respect for others. In this regard, a major problem has been the collection of canine excrement. The traditional way of collection is manual, through which, the pet owner collects the excrement from the ground, aided by a bag in which the pet owner's hand is sheathed to prevent direct contact with the excrement. This method has a number of disadvantages such as the need for a person to descend to the ground level to pick up the excrement, which may cause discomfort in the back, legs, arms, etc., especially in individuals with back injuries or elderly people. This operation also raises certain qualms in many owners because the bags, usually of a very thin plastic, allow perceiving the texture of the excrement, which makes the manual collection of excrement unpleasant. Moreover, municipal health and hygiene regulations are becoming increasingly demanding regarding this issue, and impose significant sanctions on pet owners who violate their obligations to properly collect canine waste.
In the state of the art, some documents related to the invention in question were found; although, none of these documents provides the same advantageous features or effectively resolves the existing shortcomings.
Document ES 1047944 U discloses a canine excrement collector specially designed for the collection of canine excrements before they reach the ground, during a bowel movement of the animal. This canine excrement collector includes a mast having one of its ends rounded off in a ring fitted with a means for fixing the mouth of a collection bag for excrements. The length of the mast is such that, in an upright position, the user of the scooper can place the ring with the collecting bag under the hindquarters of the animal. The disadvantage presented by the invention disclosed in document ES 1047944 U is that it is not as convenient to use as the invention disclosed herein, since the invention disclosed herein has a more advanced, yet simple system, both in the collection of objects and in the control from the handle.
Furthermore, Document ES 1062044 U discloses an extensible strap provided with an incorporated excrement collector of the type that comprises a casing with a handle; there is a drum on the inside of the casing for collecting and dispensing a strap through a frontal opening. This strap has in its free end, a hook or other means of attachment to the collar of the dog. The casing has a means for fixing a tubular body of the excrement collector. This tubular body has a flexible string or the like housed inside. One end of the flexible string emerges from the orifice of a terminal of the front end of the tubular body and is fixed to a point of the outside of the above mentioned terminal for the formation of a loop by the tension of the flexible string itself; an inverted bag being arranged in this loop. The other end of the flexible string emerges from the opposite end of the tubular body and is related to a handle on the end of the telescopic sections. The telescopic sections are housed within the tubular body. The flexible string is operationally suitable for the strangulation of the bag, so that by stretching the handle of the free end of the flexible string, the mouth of the bag is closed over the excrement, thereby picking the excrement up into the bag. This invention has the disadvantage of leaving many doubts as to the effectiveness of the collection system.
Furthermore, Document ES 1 073 603 U discloses a set of elements for the collection of canine excrement. The set of elements includes a telescopic mast equipped at its upper end with a handle or a grip, while at its opposite end, the telescopic mast is attached jointly to a receptacle. The container disclosed in the document ES 1 073 603 U is formed from a pair of rectangular pipe bowls opposing each other in the form of a receiving mouth, hinged at one of its ends by a horizontal axis. This invention provides a less efficient system than the invention disclosed herein by not having catch pins or any incorporated system that facilitates the collection of canine excrement.
Thus, there is no known collector that solves the above mentioned drawbacks, both in terms of the documents cited above and the other inventions or traditional collectors found in the state of the art.